twiztor

nobody is jumping out at me for the Manzarek role, but as for Densmore.... have we already forgotten that "Matt Classic" (fka Colt Cabana) is already employed by AEW? i really like the idea of a group like that, but also gotta agree that Garcia and (especially) Starks should not be a part of it. But i'm struggling to think who else could fit in easily. Griff Garrison? a heel turn for Action Andretti? ironcially enough, i could see this working for Brian Pillman Jr.

yes. yes it does. currently -5° but "feels like" -20. We got 12+" of snow on Tuesday and another 10+" on Friday. According to the local weather: "Tonight (WIND CHILL WARNING): The wind calms down a little bit down to around 5-15 mph out of the west. This helps with the drifting snow, but also allows temperatures to plummet. Lows are expected to be anywhere from -18 to -23 degrees. Wind chills with just a little bit of wind are around -35 to -45 degrees. Skies are partly cloudy. Bundle up and stay warm tonight!" Tomorrow's high temp is expected to be -2°.

same. a few years ago i watched Mania after a number of years away. the constant cuts were SO DISTRACTING. i was more focused on counting how many seconds a shot would last rather than the match itself. for the record, there were VASTLY more shots that lasted less than a second than shots that lasted 5+. I only reached 10 seconds a handful of times over the hour i watched- mostly during entrances. Haven't watched WWE since and am in no hurry to go back. all of this. 100%. obviously Hunter is going to put Dunn over publicly, especially while they were both in executive-style roles within the company. i wonder how much of those production styles were taught that way specifically because of Dunn. Like, "you need to do it this way because that's what the boss wants" as opposed to "you need to do it this way because it is the optimal way to present this". if it's more the former, we could see a bigger change than if it is the latter. i'm sure it will take a few years to really be noticeable either way.

i know she just beat former champ Jessica Andrade and all, but this is 100% just so Dana/UFC can say that had China vs China for a title, right? i mean, undefeated Tatiana Suarez (also coming off a victory over Andrade) is RIGHT THERE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDk5rIM-GSI NWA POWERRR! Episode 141: Return to Robarts: Finale 1/9/24 @ Sarasota, FL Women's Tag Team Titles: Pretty Empowered Kylie Paige (c) vs. Ruthie Jay & Missa Kate Ella Envy is not medically cleared to wrestle (she has the flu), so Kylie has to defend the titles solo. i question the legality of this, but perhaps there is a precedent. i think my problem with this (along with SO many other things) is semantics. If they just said that she was sick and wasn't going to make it, i would cut it some slack. But by using the phrase "not medically cleared to compete", it makes it sound like a company decision, and therefore i disagree. Semantics aside, this was a well worked match. While Ruthie and Missa were mostly in charge of the situation, Kylie held her own and everybody looked good. Missa Kate hits a GNARLY roundhouse kick ("Kick-Fil-A") that looks like it will be the finish, but we get an interference spot that caught me off guard and provided some confusion, so i think it worked out pretty well. That leads almost immediately into.... Women's World Title: Kenzie Paige (c) vs. Samantha Miss Starr this was a bit of a disappointment. Both women were fine, and the story told was OK, but it never seemed to get out of first gear. They did have a slap-off, which looked and sounded pretty intense. That was the highlight for me. Country Gentlemen vs. Knox & Murdoch good solid hard-hitting match. You know what you're getting from both of these teams, and they delivered as advertised. NWA World Heavyweight Title: Jax Dane vs EC3 (c) Tim Storm lets us know that EC3 has been training with "the Shaolin Monks" to bring his headlock skills to the next level. that was puzzling. This match is very slow paced. There are a lot of headlocks and bodylocks. EC3 eventually turns up the speed with a suicide dive and then a 2nd rope crossbody, but Dane immediately slows everything back down. then we immediately go into the finish. man, this match was bad. whatever the opposite of compelling is. i guess that matches the lackluster build to this match. no word on next week. NWA Paranoia is this Saturday with Power tapings taking place on Sunday, but they've been pretty inconsistent on whether the Tuesday after tapings results in a new episode or not. Add in the CW stuff that still hasn't really been addressed, and it just leaves a question mark.

listened to this the other day. had never heard of the band. i agree, it was indeed awesome. i wholeheartedly endorse @ohtani's jacket's recommendation of this album. also checked this one out. it wasn't quite what i was expecting (apparently i didn't take the "stripped back" part of your description as seriously as i should have) but i enjoyed it. retained a lot of that 'in your face' attitude but without the punk music sound. it definitely earned itself another listen.

this is awesome~! thanks to everyone involved in putting this together. it has been years since i ordered a wrestling ppv live. i will be signing up to catch this one.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/dc-comics-have-told-marvel-that-they-own-machine-man/ kind of an interesting premise. Basically, a version of Machine Man first appeared in the 2001: A Space Odyssey comic adaptation published by Marvel. Since DC/Warner owns the IP for 2001, they are claiming that all characters in the adaptation are their property. That will largely depend on the wording in the contract for their adaptation, as we have seen it happen both ways. for example, Marvel did a ROM comic and doesn't own ROM but did retain all the originally created characters. Alternately, numerous characters like Death's Head made a single appearance in a different Marvel book before debuting in Transformers so that Marvel would retain the rights. So who knows what will come out of this?

so, has there ever been a consensus on which isthe best release of Blade Runner? i watched it in the early 00s and was left incredibly underwhelmed for a movie that's supposed to be such a classic. i rented it on vhs, so probably just watched something akin to the theatrical version. i also really love the book it's based on, so i probably docked it points for not being as good. but i feel like i owe it a re-evaluation and want to give it a fair shot. i've run into arguments about "extended cuts" or "directors cuts" and don't really know which way to go. thoughts? tl;dr i want to watch Blade Runner. but which version?

i've been pretty down lately on Dynamite (in specific) and AEW (in general), but i loved this episode all the way through. a few random thoughts: i had not made the connection that Sting was undefeated in AEW at 24-0 (25-0 counts Muta's retirement show) i have never seen Mariah May, but Queen Aminata impressed me more in their match. make her a regular! Takeshita/Allin was awesome. I even called my wife in to watch the match (she doesn't follow wrestling but enjoyed s1 of Lucha Underground, FWIW). she was enthralled. i popped big for Kingston calling Bryan Keith's headbutt "Luigi-esque". there are not nearly enough Super Smash Bros. references made in general. i wasn't expecting it to happen, but i was salivating at the thought of Vikingo vs Kingston in a titles unification match. Trent should make for a fun match too. a damn shame he's never won a title in AEW whatsoever yet.

i appreciate the call out! i re-started watching NWA right around the Crockett Cup, so i will check out some of the shows from before that. right now, the only things taken off YouTube are the ~7 weeks of Power that were added to the CW app, which i think is early fall (but can't be bothered to check right now) EDIT: the CW App only has the 8 episodes of Power that start after NWA75 and last through Samhain (9/5/23-10/24/23). They are calling it "the complete Season 15" which is asinine. https://www.nationalwrestlingalliance.com/cw-app

not too often i see my hometown brought up. i popped.

oh, that sucks. i feel for him and his health struggles. glad he got a payday. still don't think i would have aired a segment like that if i was a decision maker.

LOLTNA

i remember the Brawl Out scrum and interaction with Punk happening, but Hausman was a nobody so it wasn't worth remember who the "journalist" that started the whole rant was. a couple months back, when NWA announced a "tv" deal, it was Hausman who leaked that it was CW. I wasn't the only one questioning if he was even a reliable source. now this Jericho stuff. he is certainly getting his name out there, i will say that.

we know the forum title spelled "forever" wrong, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECYGRkjqBhU NWA POWERRR! Episode 140: Return to Robarts, Part III 1/2/24 @ Sarasota, FL Joe Alonzo vs Alex Misery Alex Misery hails "from the void". He is the son of Apolo, of TNA and Puerto Rico fame. i see potential in Misery. He has good movements, but his reactions and expressions need some work. Pretty solid match. Good way to kick off the show (and the year) according to the banner at the bottom of the screen: "THE CW IS THE NEW HOME OF THE NWA! DOWNLOAD THE APP OR VISIT THECW.COM!" it was not mentioned by the commentary team, and no further details were given. editor's note: it was later mentioned that the 1/13 event is "a CW TV Taping", but again, no follow-up. editor's note 2: there was a commercial toward the end that made it more explicit that NWA will be available on the CW App and streaming on their site. They mentioned getting caught up on past episodes, with new content on the way. I'm interested if that means they will be taken off YouTube? I assume so, as the episodes that got put up on the CW app are now marked as private on YT. But still no timetable made explicit. #1 TV Title Contender: Anthony Catena vs Jake Dumas vs Storm Thomas so, two guys who have never wrestled in the NWA are potentially two of the top three contenders? It doesn't feel like that makes your title very prestigious. Dumas does not have CJ with him, so my interest has immediately waned because he kinda sucks. Catena, seconded by Chris Silvio, holds up his end pretty well, bringing some good energy and engagement with the crowd. Ditto for Thomas, who really focuses on his power game. A Tribute to Austin Idol (for 50 years in the business) They introduce Bobby Fulton. I don't know if he has had a stroke or something, but his words were slurring something atrocious. I wouldn't have put him on TV. Now Billy Corgan and Nicole Graham (Mike Graham's daughter) come out. They are holding hands and it looks awkward. Billy is wearing a zip up hoodie that has "WPC" embroidered in small letters on the chest. He hands a plaque to Nicole so she can present it to Idol. She doesn't get to say anything. Idol badmouths the plaque, saying that 50 years in the business, and all he gets is a cheap ass plaque? Then he runs down the city and calls it "SUCKAsota". He loses the audience and this segment wasn't great to begin with, but now it is really dumb. NWA World Tag Team Titles: Blunt Force Trauma (c) vs. Fixers (Bradley & Legursky) glad to see the actual Fixers back together, i thought they had low key split up. Man, this started off WAY too slow for what a match like this should be. And it never picks up. This match was just basically a waste of time. and the finish was a dropkick. That's it. Just a standing dropkick. NEXT WEEK looks loaded in comparison to the last few weeks: World Champ EC3 vs. Jax Dane, Women's Champ Kenzie Paige vs. Samantha Miss Starr, Knox & Murdoch vs. Country Gentlemen, Women's Tag Champs Pretty Empowered vs. Ruthie Jay & Missa Kate

or we could fix the board that has given people issues for years now and is continuously getting worse?

A different (retro video game) forum i'm on has started creating a "Backlog Challenge", where you list off all the games you would like to beat for the year. For me, i'm having better luck by taking things one "challenge" or "set" at a time. in 2022, i focused on finishing up the NES/SNES Mega Man classic games, the three Luigi's Mansion games, and the Sonic the Hedgehog games. My list for 2023 looked like this (i try to end up with about 12 games over 12 months): PS1 challenge: Crash Bandicoot COMPLETED 3/3/23 Metal Gear Solid [did not play] Spyro the Dragon COMPLETED 9/12/23 Tomb Raider [called it quits 5/19/23] +the sequel of whichever game i enjoy the most. [did not play] Wario Land Challenge: Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (GB) COMPLETED 1/29/23 Wario Land (VB) COMPLETED 3/13/23 Wario Land 2 (GBC) COMPLETED 5/21/23 Wario Land 3 (GBC) COMPLETED 11/25/23 Wario Land 4 (GBA) COMPLETED 12/7/23 misc. Super Mario Bros. 2 [J] (NES) COMPLETED 2/16/23 Tank! Tank! Tank! (Wii-U) COMPLETED 12/9/22 Mega Man: Wily Wars (Gen) COMPLETED 1/28/23 and my list for 2024 looks like this (less sets but more random stuff): Wario World (GCN) COMPLETED 12/29/23 Wario Land: Shake It (Wii) Wario: Master of Disguise (**this is my last priority for the year, as i didn't even know it existed until a few days ago, and it's not REALLY a Wario Land game, so we'll see...) Mighty No. 9 (Wii-U) Mega Man 9 (Wii eShop) Mega Man 10 (Wii eShop) Super Mario Bros. 3 e-Reader levels (Wii-U eShop) Super Princess Peach (DS) Mario vs Donkey Kong 4: Mini-Land Mayhem (DS) Awesome Possum (Genesis) Knuckles Chaotix (32x) Revenge of Shinobi (Genesis) Cuphead (Switch) Dark Void Zero (DS eShop)

Hey(EW!) i made charts again showing the yearly ratings for each of the AEW shows and compared them with last year's. As a reminder, 2022 saw ratings normalize for Dynamite, with most of the upward and downward spikes smoothed over. That also gave them a higher overall average rating score. https://ibb.co/M1VKbkJ Dynamite Ratings 2022 vs. 2023. solidly down across the board. 2022 had an average of 955.7 thousand, 2023 was at 864.3 thousand. https://ibb.co/ZSHwMKs Rampage Ratings. i included 2021 on this just because the debut episodes are SO out of whack with reality due to the hugeness of Punk's initial signing. Interesting that it doesn't really see a sharp decline once Collision begins. https://ibb.co/SPXWPmq Collision ratings for 2023. red line shows when Punk left. not much data to compare to, but a very unsteady decline throughout its existence. edit: can't get the images to embed. tried multiple browsers, phone vs. pc, all that good stuff.

June now? that will be a damn near 3-year layoff, weeks before his 36th birthday, and his last win took place pre-pandemic. It will be over a year after the debut of TUF31. Maybe he's hoping that Chandler's 18 month layoff will lead to more ring rust for the 38 year old? in other news, Rizin 45 was a lot of fun. Their NYE cards never cease to entertain. Seika Izawa beats another legend. I'm surprised they haven't matched her up with Rena Kubota or Kanna Asakura yet. Those are really the only marketable fighters left for her. Horiguchi remains the man. Asakura (Kai) wins again while still being very beatable. the whole situation sucks for Archuleta. Hope he gets further chances. Hiromoto/Ya-Man was a hot opening round and stayed good all the way through. i enjoyed watching Ougikubo break down Dodson, who looked good early but fell off fast. i wonder if age is finally catching up to him? oh, and they sorta announced Mayweather/Pacquiao 2 happening sometime in 2024. Pac seemed hesitant to say his name, despite Sakakibara already announcing it right before that. felt weird.

RIP XFL. i always knew that it would have some sort of reappearance after the 2001 season. didn't bank on a moderately-successful season that got ground to a fine powder by a worldwide pandemic. i'll always hold fond memories of that inaugural Vince season. i had a lot of fun watching sub-par football. Hell, i have the entire season on DVDs. i honestly don't know why the new Arena Football League doesn't just throw in with these guys. It's not like they have a real chance of huge success either way. 2024 marks their third attempt at a launch, with varying degrees of staying power.

WARNING: SPOILERS WITHIN FOR THE CONTINENTAL CLASSIC, AEW WORLDS END, AND MAYBE OTHER THINGS. Also, it will probably be ramble-y. Well Coach Tony, you did it. You crazy bastard, you got me to watch both Dynamite and Collision all December long. This is my busiest time of the year, and also the hardest for me to deal with, and you STILL got me to double my AEW consumption. Kudos. i hope when this tournament happens next year, it's a) not so compressed, and b) not entirely between Thanksgiving and New Years. CONTINENTAL CLASSIC i know, these thoughts would probably be better suited to the thread dedicated solely to it, but i think my point will probably mesh better and intertwine with my overall thoughts. So i am putting it here, since i am already gazing at my navel and pontificating off the top of my dome. The tournament itself produced some pretty great matches. But i honestly think it was too much, you know? Like the C2 dominated both Dynamite and Collisionfor the last 6-ish weeks, leaving little time for much else. I think that speaks to how much the front half of Worlds End felt underdeveloped. When you have three 20-minute matches each show, that's approximately half your total airtime. Speaking of which, did every match really need to be over 15 minutes? Nobody believed that Jay Lethal would win a single match in the tournament, and that he was just there to eat pins. Which is exactly how it played out. Speaking of things we didn't need in this tournament, Jon Moxley running the bracket was completely unnecessary. Dude's already the most protected guy on the roster and has wins over the majority of people in AEW. One more little complaint: where was the long-term selling? Danielson damn near lost an eye vs. Andrade, but by the next week, he was competing as if he were 100%. Moxley was practically crippled vs Switchblade, but went on to win the triple threat the next week with no lingering effects. All that being said, it was nice to see Kingston get the big win. He was the right choice (Swerve would have also been completely deserving of this honor, but it was obvious the title was going to somebody that's "exclusive" to Collision to counter MJF's Dynamite title). AEW'S INABILITY FOR A SUSTAINED PUSH Hangman Page's world title reign was an afterthought- the story was in the chase, and then it fell off a cliff the Acclaimed were massively over. it was 16 months ago that everyone was saying AEW should have pivoted and put the tag belts on them. Then they did, and it was forgettable. Now they're the trios champs and haven't been on tv since the first week of November. Ricky Starks. how many times has this dude been cut off at the knees? he is a great promo, can go in the ring, and is always over. so again, he's an afterthought on Worlds End (even if the Starks/Bill vs Omega/Jericho match went ahead, it was an empty feud). DO SOMETHING WITH THIS GUY! What do Miro, Andrade, Keith Lee, and so many others have in common? They all came in with a lot of fan interest and a reputation of being 'underused'. How has that worked out for any of them in AEW? i'd argue that all of them are worse off than when they joined. Andrade's good showing in the C2 may be an outlier here. How about the young talent the company was going to build around? Daniel Garcia is featured a lot, but loses all the time. Quite the fall from grace compared to when he was feuding with Danielson. Wheeler Yuta is the fall guy for BCC and just lost to Hook. i like Hook, but Yuta should have rolled him. Where's Lee Moriarty? Wardlow was nuclear hot last summer and is now a masked lackey. remember when AEW started and there were a lot of voices, mine included, that were willing to give AEW the benefit of the doubt on booking plans? only speaking for myself, but that goodwill has largely evaporated. GET JERICHO AND GUEVARA OFF MY TV. i don't give a fuck about their "will they, won't they" bullshit. Jericho is WAY FUCKING PAST his expiration date. and that was my take before all this rumor shit happening now. the breakup of JAS should have led to a long layoff for him. this is feeling very negative. Let's look at some positives: i have enjoyed the shift that has been going on in AEW's house style. Originally, it was very Young Bucks-like, but the last year has seen a marked shift towards Blackpool Combat Club's rough-and-tumble brawling and Strong Style. but i fear it's going to go too far in that direction. a good balance is preferred. i assume the permanent addition of Ospreay will do a lot to counter this trend. SAMOA JOE. one of my favorites and now atop the company. i dig it. CHRISTIAN CAGE is on fire right now with his character work. i hope the feud with Edge is coming to a close, because it's not doing a ton for me, but i don't dislike it, and the crowd is still into it. CM PUNK is out of the company. i haven't said much about him, but he actively dragged down my enjoyment of the show. I hope he finds what he needs in WWE. FTR is still one of the best tag teams going. SWERVE STRICKLAND has elevated himself a LOT. the Hangman feud really showed it. Now is the time to capitalize. THUNDER ROSA returns! her return match was no great shakes, but i'm excited for what's to come. EL HIJO DEL VIKINGO. BLACK TAURUS. GRAVITY. KOMANDER. more luchadores, please! hoping for more for the DON CALLIS FAMILY to do. HOBBS is way too good to be languishing and doing nothing. TAKESHITA as well, but they're both just in limbo. Plus, i'm still waiting for the Hobbs/Samoa Joe match that never materialized when they were feuding over the TV titles. i hope Jamie Hayter is cleared to return soon. She is sorely missed. @Gordi, thanks again for creating this space and getting the ball rolling. you're a good dude. i remember some time back, you were talking about a major factor in you enjoying AEW was so much chaos and the feeling that 'anything could happen' and that seemingly nothing was off-limits. i hated saying it at the time, but i wanted something slightly more straightforward. But i think we've gone too far in that direction, to the detriment of the company. It feels very contrived and obvious right now. Hoping for more chaos and unpredictability right alongside you now. and @Octopus, i love reading your takes too. Everyone else, just assume i'm listing you here as well.

when your World Champion isn't in your game, that's an issue.

Happy New Year, but more importantly, WELCOME TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, MICKEY MOUSE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzIABiDBq7U in honor of this moment, i uploaded Steamboat Willie to youtube. it didn't embed, because forum issues. also Disney is still claiming copyright, so you probably can't even watch my video anyway. I assume this is an automatic thing that may or may not be cleared up in the coming days, but eventually it will go through!